eMarketer: Word to the Wise for Digital Video Ads: Don’t Look at One Isolated Metric

Randi Cohen, director of analytics at Neo@Ogilvy, spoke with eMarketer’s Danielle Drolet about key metrics for video ads and keeping marketers from being overwhelmed.

eMarketer: What metrics do marketers use the most to measure the health of their digital video advertising?

Randi Cohen: There are many different metrics that you can track for digital video. Looking at a blend of metrics together is the best way to provide a comprehensive understanding of how your campaign is performing. We look at engagement metrics, which would include clickthroughs, video completion rate and other engagements within the video or the player itself, if there are any overlays or social buttons.

From a delivery standpoint, we’ll look at videos’ views and impressions. Then, depending on the goals of your clients and the campaigns, send that to a gross rating point (GRP) to help better qualify the audience—who you’re serving your ads to.

We’ve had some clients that have been more interested in the audience verification—take the GRPs to the next level and understanding more characteristics about the audience and which are successful in bringing those videos to.

eMarketer: How do you prioritize the metrics?

Cohen: Lump metrics together. For example, with an engagement campaign, look at metrics such as completion rates, average time spent and clickthrough rate (CTR). It depends on the campaign. If the campaign is designed to raise awareness, and video is effective, it’s delivering a more complex message. A 30-second format tends to capture attention a little bit better than an animated flash banner. In that instance, for awareness, a brand health study is important.

Context and objectives are really important. There are certainly many different metrics that we can track, but you need to determine the primary goal and then select the metric or set of metrics that are best going to help evaluate that. Then, when you’re evaluating the performance of a program, we think it’s helpful to go back and rewatch the video. Take a closer look at the placements where your video is running, because that will help tell a lot of the story. Dig in and quantify what the why is behind the numbers that you’re seeing.